Method for processing slider for virtual character, electronic device, and storage medium

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure discloses a method for processing a slider for a virtual character, an electronic device, and a storage medium, relating to a field of virtual reality, in particular to fields of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, voice technology, cloud computing, etc. An implementation includes: acquiring a shape model associated with a target semantic tag; acquiring a skeleton and skinning information of a reference virtual character; fitting the shape model based on the skeleton and skinning information to obtain a skeleton linkage coefficient; and generating a slider associated with the target semantic tag based on the skeleton linkage coefficient, wherein the slider is used to drive the reference virtual character to obtain a target virtual character complying with a target semantic feature contained in the target semantic tag.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is claims priority to Chinese Application No.202110316415.X filed on Mar. 24, 2021, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a field of virtual reality, inparticular to fields of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things,voice technology, cloud computing, etc., and specifically to a methodfor processing a slider for a virtual character, an electronic device,and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computerinstructions.

BACKGROUND

In the future augmented reality system, the virtual character will bethe main carrying method of human-computer interaction.

At present, an App for generating a virtual character usually requires auser to upload a photo, and then generates a primary virtual characterautomatically based on the portrait in the photo. However, in order toimplement the final virtual character, the user is also required tomanually pinch the face of the primary virtual character by using thepinching face function in the App.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a method for processing a slider for avirtual character, an electronic device, and a storage medium.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method forprocessing a slider for a virtual character is provided, including:acquiring a shape model associated with a target semantic tag; acquiringa skeleton and skinning information of a reference virtual character;fitting the shape model based on the skeleton and skinning informationto obtain a skeleton linkage coefficient; and generating a sliderassociated with the target semantic tag based on the skeleton linkagecoefficient, wherein the slider is used to drive the reference virtualcharacter to obtain a target virtual character complying with a targetsemantic feature contained in the target semantic tag.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an electronicdevice is provided, including: at least one processor; and a memorycommunicatively connected with the at least one processor; wherein thememory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor, andthe instructions are executed by the at least one processor to cause theat least one processor to perform the method according to theembodiments of the present disclosure.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions isprovided, wherein the computer instructions are configured to cause thecomputer to perform the method according to the embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

It should be understood that the content described in this section isnot intended to identify key or important features of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will beeasily understood through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are used to better understand the solutions, and do notconstitute a limitation to the present disclosure. Wherein:

FIG. 1A exemplarily illustrates a system architecture in which a methodand apparatus for generating a virtual character according to theembodiments of the present disclosure may be applied;

FIG. 1B exemplarily illustrates a diagram of a scenario in which themethod and apparatus for generating a virtual character according to theembodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a method for generating avirtual character according to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 exemplarily illustrates a schematic diagram of semantictransformation according to the embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 4A to 4D exemplarily illustrate schematic diagrams of a virtualcharacter slider according to the embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 exemplarily illustrates a schematic diagram of a referencevirtual character in which binding of a skeleton and a skinned mesh areachieved according to the embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6A exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a method for processing aslider for a virtual character according to the embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 6B exemplarily illustrates a schematic diagram of generating avirtual character slider according to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 exemplarily illustrates a schematic diagram of generating avirtual character according to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 exemplarily illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus forprocessing a slider for a virtual character according to an embodimentof the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 exemplarily illustrates a block diagram of an electronic deviceused to implement an apparatus of generating a virtual character in theembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following describes exemplary embodiments of the present disclosurewith reference to the drawings, which include various details of theembodiments of the present disclosure to facilitate understanding, andshould be regarded as merely exemplary. Therefore, those skilled in theart should recognize that various changes and modifications may be madeto the embodiments described herein without departing from the scope andspirit of the present disclosure. Likewise, for clarity and conciseness,descriptions of well-known functions and structures are omitted in thefollowing description.

At present, an App for generating a virtual character usually requires auser to upload a photo, and then generates a primary virtual characterautomatically based on the portrait in the photo. However, in order toimplement the final virtual character, the user is also required tomanually pinch the face of the primary virtual character by using theface pinching function in the App.

Although the solution of automatic generation and then manualcustomization may eventually give a result of a virtual character, it isoften difficult for the user to acquire a satisfactory virtualcharacter. The reason is that through this traditional solution, it isimpossible for the user to achieve an efficient customization of thevirtual character.

Exemplarily, if a user is intended to generate a virtual character witha high nose, big eyes and a thin chin through the above-mentionedtraditional method, there is a high possibility that the user is unableto find a photo of a real person with similar character features.Further, even if a photo of a real person with similar characterfeatures may be found the user needs to search for a facial feature, forexample, in the bases of nose shape, eye shape, and face shape etc. oneby one, in using the above-mentioned face pinching function. Generally,the App provides dozens of shapes for a single facial feature for theuser to choose. Therefore, it takes tens or even dozens of minutes toselect the shape of each facial feature. Many users may not have thepatience to spend time to choose satisfactory facial features.

In addition, this traditional customization solution of the virtualcharacter is not convenient for users to use and may even cause greatfrustration and experience damage to users.

An intelligent generation solution of a virtual character based onlanguage description proposed in the present disclosure may implementthe efficient customization of the virtual character. The disclosurewill be described in detail below in conjunction with specificembodiments.

A system architecture, in which a method and apparatus for generating avirtual character according to the embodiments of the present disclosuremay be applied, is introduced as follows.

FIG. 1A exemplarily illustrates a system architecture in which a methodand apparatus for generating a virtual character according to theembodiments of the present disclosure may be applied. It should be notedthat FIG. 1A is just an example of the system architecture in which theembodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to help thoseskilled in the art to understand the technical content of the presentdisclosure, but it does not mean that the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may not be used in other environments or scenes.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the system architecture 100 may include: a terminaldevice 101. It should be noted that the terminal device 101 may be aclient or a server, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

Specifically, an initial virtual character may be generated as areference virtual character through the terminal device 101 or otherapparatus. If a user wants to customize a virtual character aspersonally desired, such as a virtual character with “high nose, bigeyes, thin chin”, the user may describe the desired virtual characterthrough language. After the terminal device 101 obtains the languagedescription generated by the user, a respective semantic feature may beextracted based on the language description, and then the desiredvirtual character is generated based on the extracted semantic feature.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, according to the languagedescription generated the user, the terminal device 101 may accuratelyrecognize a semantic feature information of the virtual characterrequired by the user, and then generate the virtual characterintelligently. On the one hand, the solution may improve the efficiencyof producing a customized virtual character and give user a moreconvenient experience; on the other hand, it may also improve theaccuracy of customization of the virtual character and provide asatisfactory virtual character to user.

It should be understood that the number of terminal devices in FIG. 1Ais illustrative. Any number of terminal devices may be included asdesired in practice.

A scenario in which the method and apparatus for generating a virtualcharacter according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may beapplied are introduced as follows.

It should be understood that at present, the offline consumptionguidance is mainly based on bloggers visiting stores and sharing theirexperiences. If consumers do not actively read the content shared bybloggers, it is difficult to achieve an effective recommendation.

It should also be understood that the customized virtual characterusually has similarity with real person, different virtual charactersare distinguished from each other, and the cartoon appearance of thevirtual character may also have an enhanced affinity. All this may helpimprove the subjective recognition of the virtual character by the user.In this way, a virtual character may be created, a human-computerinteraction may be achieved based on the virtual character, and aconsumption recommendation and a consumption accompanying may beprovided in proper time by using the virtual character during theprocess of human-computer interaction based on the virtual character. Inthis way, the conversion rate of consumption recommendation mayeffectively increase while the user experience may be improved.

Exemplarily, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, a guidance ofoffline consumption may be provided to the user in the home scene basedon the virtual character, and a consumption accompanying may be providedto the user in the offline consumption scene based on the virtualcharacter.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the user may create a virtual character specific tothe user through a mobile client and upload the virtual character to acloud. Then the virtual character is sent to a smart device associatedwith the user and an interactive device (such as mall interactivedevice, supermarket interactive device, restaurant interactive device,etc.) deployed in public places such as supermarket visited by user, sothat the user may use it during human-computer interaction.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present disclosure,the smart device includes an IoT device with a display, such as arefrigerator, a television, a smart mirror, a smart glass and so on.After the virtual character is sent to the IOT device, the IOT devicemay be triggered to display the virtual character in real time, so thatthe virtual character vividly communicates with the user in a functionalor meaningless dialogue as a front-end carrier of an intelligent voicedialogue system. In the process of dialogue and communication, thevirtual character may provide a consumption recommendation to useroffline in proper time according to a marketing recommendationinstruction sent by the cloud.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the mallinteractive device also includes an electronic apparatus having acapability of interfacing with a user, which contains a display and isdeployed in the mall. Exemplarily, when the user visits the mall, theidentification of the user may be determined through face recognitiontechnology, and the cloud is notified to send the respective virtualcharacter. For example, when user A tries on clothes in a certain brandclothing store, a virtual character specific to user A may be sent fromthe cloud, and the virtual character specific to user A is displayed onthe edge of the fitting mirror near user A to interact with the user,such as recommend the user to try clothes. For another example, whenuser B eats single-person hot pot in a hot pot restaurant, a smalldisplay may be set up next to the hot pot of user B, and a virtualcharacter specific to user B may be displayed on the small display toperform meaningless interaction with user B or play a game with user B.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user may upload a photo,and then the virtual character generation App automatically generates aprimary virtual character based on the portrait in the photo. Then theuser may manually pinch the face of the primary virtual character byusing the face pinching function in the App, in order to generate avirtual character specific to the user.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the user may alsogenerate a virtual character specific to the user through theintelligent generation solution of virtual character based on languagedescription.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, in addition toreceiving the virtual character created by the mobile client and sendingthe virtual character to the smart device associated with the user andthe interactive device deployed in a public place such as a supermarketvisited by the user, the cloud may also analyze big data of user(s) andprovide a marketing strategy at proper time, in order to achieve amarketing task by using the virtual character displayed on the smarthome device. For example, it rains on a certain day, the weather is verycold, and the user has not eaten hot pot for a long time, then thevirtual character may affectionately recommend a hot pot dining place tothe user.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, providing aservice of accompanying consumption recommendation by using a virtualcharacter similar to a real person may cause the user to feelacceptance. Through the recommendation by the virtual character, theuser consumption may also be guided to offline scene. And in realconsumption scenes, the virtual character specific to the user may alsoaccompany the user, to recommend products to user, accompany the user toeat and chat. In this way, online services and offline services may beconnected.

The present disclosure provides a human-computer interaction methodbased on a virtual character.

The human-computer interaction method may be applied to a home scene,including the following operations.

A virtual character is displayed on a smart device.

The virtual character is controlled to communicate and interact with auser.

In the process of communication and interaction between the virtualcharacter and the user, the virtual character is controlled to provide aconsumption recommendation to the user.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the smart device may includea smart home device. Exemplarily, in the home scene, after the smarthome device is triggered, a virtual character specific to the user maybe displayed on the display of the smart home device. In otherembodiments of the present disclosure, after the smart home device istriggered, other virtual character(s) that is/are not specific to theuser may be displayed on the display of the smart home device.

As a front-end carrier of the intelligent voice dialogue system, thevirtual character displayed on the smart home device may vividly performfunctional or meaningless dialogue, a game interaction, etc. with user.In the process of dialogue or game interaction, the virtual charactermay provide offline consumption recommendation to user in proper timeaccording to the marketing recommendation instruction (includingmarketing strategies) sent by the cloud. For example, it rains on acertain day, the weather is very cold, and the user has not eaten hotpot for a long time, then the virtual character may affectionatelyrecommend a hot pot dining place to the user.

In the home scene, user may establish trust and acceptance of thevirtual character by communicating and interacting with the virtualcharacter on the smart home device. Therefore, the customized virtualcharacter becomes the development companionship object of the user. Inthis way, the cloud directly sends the marketing recommendationinstruction to the virtual character, and the possibility that thevirtual character achieves the consumption guidance is increased.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the trust and acceptanceof the user for virtual character may be established through thecompanionship of the customized virtual character, thereby implementingthe consumption recommendation by using the virtual character as aninteractive carrier, and improving the conversion rate of consumptionrecommendation.

As an optional embodiment, controlling the virtual character to providea consumption recommendation to the user may include the followingoperations.

The marketing strategy sent by the cloud for the user is acquired.

The virtual character is controlled to provide a consumptionrecommendation to the user based on the marketing strategy.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, in addition toreceiving the virtual character created by the mobile client and sendingthe virtual character to the smart device associated with the user andthe interactive device deployed in a public place such as a supermarketvisited by the user, the cloud may also analyze the big data of user(s)and provide a targeted marketing strategy for specific user at propertime. The virtual character displayed on the smart home device iscontrolled to achieve the marketing task. In this way, precise marketingmay be implemented, and more reasonable, more accurate and moresatisfying consumption recommendation is provided to user.

As an optional embodiment, displaying the virtual character on the smartdevice may include: displaying the virtual character specific to theuser on the smart device. The virtual character specific to the user issent from the cloud to the smart device.

Exemplarily, a user may create a virtual character specific to the userthrough the mobile client, the virtual character is uploaded to thecloud. Then, when the user triggers the smart device, the cloud willsend the created virtual character specific to the user to a smart homedevice for displaying.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, it is easier to obtain thetrust and acceptance of the user in the development companionship ofvirtual character by using the virtual character specific to the user,and thus it is easier to achieve the consumption recommendation by thevirtual character.

The present disclosure also provides a control method based on a virtualcharacter.

The control method based on the virtual character may be applied to aserver such as the cloud, and includes the following operations.

The virtual character displayed on the smart device is remotelycontrolled to communicate and interact with user.

In the process of communication and interaction between the virtualcharacter and the user, a marketing strategy for the user is sent to thesmart device, so that the virtual character may be used to provide aconsumption recommendation to the user based on the marketing strategy.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, taking the home scene as anexample, the smart device includes a smart home device. After the smarthome device is triggered, the cloud may remotely control the smart homedevice, e.g. to display the virtual character specific to the user onthe display of the smart home device. In other embodiments of thepresent disclosure, after the smart home device is triggered, the cloudmay also remotely control the smart home device, e.g. to display othervirtual character(s) that is/are not specific to the user on the displayof the smart home device.

As a front-end carrier of the intelligent voice dialogue system, thevirtual character is displayed on the smart home device may vividlyperform functional or meaningless dialogue and game interaction withuser. In the process of dialogue or game interaction, the virtualcharacter may provide an offline consumption recommendation to user atproper time according to the marketing recommendation instruction(including a marketing strategy) sent by the cloud. For example, itrains on a certain day, the weather is very cold, and the user has noteaten hot pot for a long time, then the virtual character mayaffectionately recommend a hot pot dining place to the user.

In the home scene, the user may establish trust and recognition of thevirtual character by communicating and interacting with the virtualcharacter on the smart home device. Therefore, the customized virtualcharacter becomes the development companionship object of the user. Inthis way, the cloud directly sends the marketing recommendationinstruction to the virtual character, such that the possibility that thevirtual character achieves the consumption guidance is increased.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the trust and acceptanceof the user for virtual character may be established through thecompanionship of the customized virtual character, thereby implementingthe consumption recommendation using the virtual character as aninteractive carrier and improving the conversion rate of consumptionrecommendation.

As an optional embodiment, the method further includes the followingoperations.

The virtual character specific to the user provided by user is acquired.

The virtual character specific to the user is sent to the smart deviceassociated with the user, so that the smart device displays the virtualcharacter specific to the user when facing the user and performshuman-computer interaction with the user through the virtual characterspecific to the user.

Exemplarily, user may create a virtual character specific to the userthrough the mobile client, the virtual character is uploaded to thecloud, and then when the user triggers the smart device, the cloud willsend the created virtual character specific to the user to the smarthomes for displaying, and the virtual character is used to communicateand interact with the user.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, by using the virtualcharacter specific to the user, it is easier to obtain the trust andacceptance of the user in the development companionship by the virtualcharacter, and thus it is easier to achieve the consumptionrecommendation by the virtual character.

As an optional embodiment, the method further includes the followingoperations.

A consumption data is acquired.

Based on the consumption data, a marketing strategy for the user isgenerated in order to be sent to the smart device.

Exemplarily, the cloud may acquire the consumption data uploaded by theinteractive device and the cashier device installed in a public placesuch as a supermarket, and a big data analysis is performed based on theacquired consumption data, thereby generating the marketing strategy foran individual user or a certain group of users. The generated marketingstrategy is sent to the smart device associated with the specific useror the specific category of users, so that the virtual characterdisplayed on the smart device may provide a consumption recommendationto the user(s) at proper time. It should be noted that in theembodiments the consumption data is not consumption data for a specificuser and does not reflect the personal information of the specific user.In the embodiments, the consumption data may be obtained from publicdataset.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the consumptionhabits may be learned from the consumption data, and then the marketingstrategy that conforms to the consumption habits of the user may beformulated, thereby implementing precision marketing.

The present disclosure also provides another control method based on avirtual character.

The control method based on the virtual character may be applied to aconsumption scene, including the following operations.

The virtual character is displayed on a specific interactive device in aspecific place.

During an activity of user in the specific place, the virtual characteris controlled to communicate and interact with the user.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present disclosure,the specific place may include a public places such as a mall, asupermarket, a restaurant hotel etc. The specific interactive device mayinclude an electronic device with a display.

Exemplarily, when the user visits the mall, the identity of the user maybe determined through face recognition technology, and the cloud may benotified to send the respective virtual character to the mallinteractive device near the user, so that the virtual character mayinteract with the user during the consumption process of user andaccompany user in offline consumption.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, in theconsumption scene, the virtual character specific to the user may appearon mall interactive device near the user, so as to accompany the user inthe entire offline consumption process and provide the user with abetter consumption experience.

As an optional embodiment, in the process of the activity of user in thespecified place, the virtual character is controlled to communicate andinteract with the user, may include at least one of the following.

In the process that the user is shopping in a mall or a supermarket, thevirtual character is controlled to communicate with the user toaccompany the user to shop.

In the process that the user is having dinner in the restaurant orhotel, the virtual character is controlled to chat with the user or playinteractive game to accompany the user to have dinner.

In the process that the user consumes in the leisure and entertainmentvenue, the virtual character is controlled to communicate and interactwith the user to accompany the user in leisure and entertainment.

Exemplarily, for example, when user A tries on clothes in a certainbrand clothing store, the virtual character specific to user A may besent from the cloud, and the virtual character specific to user A isdisplayed on the edge of the fitting mirror near user A, so as tointeract with the user, such as recommending the user to try on clothes.For another example, when user B is having a single-person hot pot in ahot pot restaurant, a small display may be set up next to user B's hotpot, and the virtual character specific to user B may be displayed onthe small display, so as to have meaningless interaction or game withuser B.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the virtualcharacter similar to the real person in some extant is used to providethe accompanying consumption service, which may make user feelacceptance. And in the real consumption scene, the virtual characterspecific to the user accompanies the user, which may help the user topurchase a satisfactory product and accompany the user to have dinner,to chat and so on. In this way, online service and offline service maybe connected.

As an optional embodiment, the method may further include the followingoperations.

A consumption data is acquired.

The consumption data is sent to the cloud so that the cloud may generatea marketing strategy for user based on the consumption data.

Exemplarily, the interactive device and a cashier device in a publicplace such as a mall and a supermarket may collect the consumption dataand upload the consumption data to the cloud, and then the cloudperforms big data analysis based on the acquired consumption data,thereby generating a marketing strategy for an individual user or acertain group of users, so that the cloud will send the marketingstrategy to a respective smart home device, and the virtual characterdisplayed on the smart home device will provide a consumptionrecommendation to the user(s) at proper time. It should be noted that inthe embodiments the consumption data is not consumption data for aspecific user and does not reflect the personal information of thespecific user. In the embodiments, the consumption data may be obtainedfrom public dataset.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the consumptiondata may be collected and uploaded, so that the cloud may learn theconsumption habits from the consumption data, and then the marketingstrategy that conforms to the user's own consumption habits isgenerated, thereby implementing precision marketing.

As an optional embodiment, the method may further include the followingoperations.

In response to the user entering a specific place, a face of user isrecognized to determine the identification of the user.

A virtual character specific to the user is acquired based on theidentification of the user.

Wherein displaying the virtual character on a specific interactivedevice in the specific place may include: displaying the virtualcharacter specific to the user on the specific interactive device in thespecific place.

It should also be understood that the customized virtual characterusually has similarity with real person, different virtual charactersare distinguished from each other, and the cartoon appearance of thevirtual character may also have an enhanced affinity. All this may helpto improve the subjective recognition of the virtual character of theuser. In this way, the virtual character may be created, thehuman-computer interaction may be implemented based on the virtualcharacter, and a consumption recommendation and a consumption accompanymay be provided by the virtual character during the process ofhuman-computer interaction based on the virtual character. In this way,the conversion rate of consumption recommendation may be effectivelyincreased while the user experience may be improved.

The user may create a virtual character specific to the user through themobile client, the virtual character is uploaded to the cloud, and thenthe virtual character is sent to the smart device associated with theuser and the interactive device (such as mall interactive device,supermarket interactive device, restaurant interactive device, etc.)deployed in a public place such as a supermarket visited by user, inorder to be used by the user during human-computer interaction.

Exemplarily, when the user visits the mall, the identification of theuser may be determined through face recognition technology, and thecloud is notified to send the virtual character, which is specific tothe user and associated to the identification of the user, to the mallinteractive device near the user. For example, when user A tries onclothes in a certain brand clothing store, an virtual character specificto user A may be sent from the cloud, and the virtual character specificto user A is displayed on the edge of the fitting mirror near user A tointeract with the user, such as recommending the user to try clothes.For another example, when user B eats single-person hot pot in a hot potrestaurant, a small display may be set up next to the hot pot of user B,and a virtual character specific to user B may be displayed on the smalldisplay to perform meaningless interaction or games with user B.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, based on thesmart home device, the mall interactive device and the cloud service,online marketing of home scenes based on the customized virtualcharacter and home/shopping mall linkage marketing accompanied byoffline consumption scenes are implemented. Therefore, the consumptionguidance method (or marketing method) may be improved while theconsumption experience of user may be improved, such as the accompanyingconsumption service provided by customized virtual character may beaccepted by the user in an immersive manner.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the presentdisclosure also provides a method for generating a virtual character.

FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a method for generating avirtual character according to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the method 200 may include: operations S210 toS230.

In operation S210, a language description generated by a user for atarget virtual character is acquired.

In operation S220, a respective semantic feature is extracted based onthe language description.

In operation S230, the target virtual character is generated based onthe semantic feature.

It should be noted that, in operation S210, the language description mayinclude the language description in the form of voice or text, which isnot limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Wherein, forthe language description in the form of voice, in operation S210, asemantic requirement of user for the target virtual character may becaptured through the automatic voice recognition ASR technology.

Exemplarily, if the user wants to create a target virtual character with“high nose, big eyes, thin chin”, the user may input the followinglanguage description “high nose, big eyes, thin chin” for the targetvirtual character. Thus, through the above operations provided by themethod 200, the language description “high nose bridge, big eyes, thinchin” may be acquired, and the semantic feature such as “high nosebridge, big eyes, thin chin” may be extracted. In addition, in theembodiments of the present disclosure, a virtual character may also bearbitrarily created in advance as a reference virtual character. Thenevery time the respective semantic feature is extracted for the targetvirtual character, the reference virtual character may be deformed basedon the extracted semantic feature, so as to finally obtain the targetvirtual character desired by the user.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, as long as theuser provides a semantic description of the target virtual character,the existing reference virtual character may be semantically modified asrequired by the user semantically, without the need for the user toperform additional manual customization operation, so as to implementthe customization of the virtual character with high efficiency and highaccuracy. In this way, user experience and acceptance of customizedvirtual character may also be improved.

In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure provideconvenience to the user, because the user only needs to give thesemantic description of the target virtual character and it is notnecessary for the user to perform additional manual customizationoperations.

As an optional embodiment, generating the target virtual character basedon the semantic feature may include the following operations.

The reference virtual character is acquired.

Based on the semantic feature extracted from the semantic descriptiongenerated by the user, the reference virtual character is deformed togenerate the target virtual character.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a virtual character may bearbitrarily created as the reference virtual character in advance, andthe reference virtual character is directly acquired in the process ofcustomization of the target virtual character, and the semantic featureextracted from the semantic description generated by the user are usedto drive the reference virtual character to deform, so as to obtain therespective target virtual character.

Exemplarily, a virtual character model of the reference virtualcharacter may be created, and then a skeleton tree is created for thevirtual character model, and then each skeleton node of the skeletontree is skinned, so that the skeleton node and a respective skinned meshnode are associated to obtain the respective reference virtualcharacter.

In addition, the deforming the reference virtual character based on thesemantic feature extracted from the semantic description generated bythe user may include: a virtual character slider (hereinafter referredto as a slider) with the semantic feature is acquired, and then theslider is used to drive the skeleton node of the reference virtualcharacter to move, thereby driving the skinned mesh node of thereference virtual character to move accordingly. Finally, the targetvirtual character that the user wants is obtained, that is, the desiredvirtual character.

Exemplarily, if the user wants to create a target virtual character of“high nose, big eyes, thin chin”, the following semantic feature “highnose, big eyes, thin chin” may be extracted based on the semanticdescription, and then three sliders of “high nose slider”, “big eyesslider” and “thin chin slider” are acquired, and the three sliders areused to drive the pre-created reference virtual character to deform, sothat finally the desired virtual character complying with the featuresof “high nose, big eyes, and thin chin” is obtained.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the customizedvirtual character is customized by using artificial intelligencealgorithms, on the one hand, the production efficiency of the customizedvirtual character may be improved, and more convenient user experiencemay be provided; on the other hand, the accuracy of customization ofvirtual character may be improved.

As an optional embodiment, the deforming the pre-created referencevirtual character based on the semantic feature extracted from thesemantic description generated by the user to generate the targetvirtual character may include the following operations.

The extracted semantic feature is converted into a professional semanticfeature.

The reference virtual character is deformed based on the professionalsemantic feature obtained by the conversion.

It should be understood that in practice, different users may havedifferent language descriptions of the same or similar characters. Forexample, for “thin chin”, some users may describe it as “cone face”,some users may describe it as “pointed face”, and some users may evenhave other descriptions. In addition, in practical applications, it isdifficult for users to give descriptions of the shapes of “cheekbones”and “chin”. More generally, users will choose more general descriptionsto portray a feeling about the virtual character, such as “like a littlegirl”, “like a grandma”, “sunshine”, “handsome” and so on.

Therefore, the embodiments of the present disclosure propose to firstconvert the semantic feature extracted from the semantic descriptiongenerated by the user uniformly into the professional semantic feature,and then the reference virtual character is deformed based on theconverted semantic feature to obtain the final target virtual character.

Exemplarily, the semantic feature (that is, the general semantic featuregiven by the user) extracted by a semantic converter may be convertedinto the professional semantic feature. The professional semanticfeature may be a semantic feature contained in a semantic description inanatomy and biology. Wherein, in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the semantic converter may be implemented by collecting alarge amount of data and regression training in deep learning.

As shown in FIG. 3 , in the embodiment of the present disclosure, takingthe face shape as an example, the semantic keyword “pointed face”extracted from the language description generated by user may beconverted into the following professional semantic features “lowcheekbones” and “narrow chin”; the semantic keyword “square face”extracted from the language description generated by user may beconverted into the following professional semantic features “highcheekbones” and “wide chin”; the semantic keyword “cute face” extractedfrom the language description generated by user may be converted intothe following professional semantic features “big eyes” and “roundface”.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, since thegeneral semantic description generated by the user may be converted intothe respective professional semantic description, a slider that drivesthe reference virtual character to deform may be created based on theprofessional semantics. For example, a high cheekbone slider, a lowcheekbone slider, a narrow chin slider, a big eyes slider, a round faceslider may be created. If the user enters “pointed face”, it may beconverted into two professional semantics, “low cheekbones” and “narrowchin”. Then the two sliders “low cheekbone slider” and “narrow chinslider” are directly used to drive the reference virtual character todeform, and finally the desired virtual character of “pointed face” isimplemented.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, even if the userinputs the general language description in practical applications, therespective professional language description may be obtained throughsemantic conversion. Then the reference virtual character is preciselydeformed, so as to finally obtain the virtual character desired by theuser.

As an optional embodiment, the deforming the reference virtual characterbased on professional semantic feature may include the followingoperations.

At least one slider is determined based on the professional semanticfeatures, and each slider is associated with a specified semantic tag.

A plurality of respective skeleton nodes of the skeleton tree used forsupporting the reference virtual character are driven to move based onthe at least one slider.

Skinned mesh nodes associated with the plurality of respective skeletonnodes are driven to move based on the movement of the plurality ofrespective skeleton nodes.

Specifically, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, after thegeneral semantic feature described by the user is converted intoprofessional semantic feature, at least one keyword contained in theprofessional semantic feature obtained by the conversion may beextracted. Then at least one semantic tag containing the at least onekeyword is found, and a slider associated with each semantic tag of theat least one semantic tag is found. Finally, the found slider is used tomove the plurality of respective skeleton nodes of the skeleton treeused to support the reference virtual character, and then the skinnedmesh nodes associated with the plurality of respective skeleton nodesare driven to move based on the movement of the plurality of respectiveskeleton nodes.

Exemplarily, FIGS. 4A to 4D represent “wide face slider”, “narrow faceslider”, “long face slider” and “short face slider” in sequence. FIG. 5illustrates the reference virtual character in which the binding of theskeleton and the skin is achieved. Exemplarily, in the case that thegeneral language description input by the user or the convertedprofessional language description contains the “wide face” feature, the“wide face slider” as shown in FIG. 4A may be directly used to drive thereference virtual character to deform as shown in FIG. 5 , therebyobtaining the target virtual character having the wide face feature.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the slider withsemantic information is used to deform the reference virtual character,which may improve the output efficiency of the target virtual characterwhile improving the accuracy of the obtained target virtual character.

It should be noted that, in order to achieve deformation of the virtualcharacter in less cost, 3D model designers usually design a skeletontree for the face model, and a weight influence relationship isestablished between each skinned mesh node of the face mesh (skinnedmesh) and each skeleton node of the skeleton tree. Afterwards, thedeformation of each skeleton node may be transmitted to each skinnedmesh node of the face skinned mesh by controlling the rotation,translation, and scaling of each skeleton node of the skeleton tree, andthe deformation of each skinned mesh node may be implemented.

However, the skeleton tree is designed for the geometric structure ofthe human face, and most skeleton nodes do not have actual semanticmeanings such as wide face and high nose. This makes the designer needto design a slider after completing the skinned mesh setting work, andthen the slider is used to implement batch operations on each skeletonnode of the skeleton tree, and semantic-level performance capability isfinally achieved. For example, by using the wide face slider, eightskeleton nodes may be adjusted in batches, including left and righttemples, left and right cheekbones, left and right mandibular angles,and left and right foreheads.

However, the linkage design of a large number of skeletons not onlyrequires the designer's manpower cost, but also the complicatedrelationship between the skeletons often leads to the poorexpressiveness of the designed semantic-level slider.

Therefore, the embodiments of the present disclosure propose an improveddesign scheme for a virtual character slider. After the designercompletes the skinned mesh design, that is, after the designer completesthe binding of skeleton and skinned mesh (also known as association ofskeleton and skinned mesh), the designer may just focus on designing theshape model respective to the semantics without continuing to design therespective virtual character slider with semantic information. This isbecause the reference virtual character and the respective shape moduledesigned by the designer by associating the skeleton and the skinnedmesh are directly inputted into the “slider design system”, a skeletonlinkage coefficient with semantic information (that is, sliderinformation) is automatically outputted, which may ensure thehigh-quality design of the slider.

The present disclosure also provides a method for processing a sliderfor a virtual character.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the method for processing a slider for a virtualcharacter may include: operations S610 to S640.

In operation S610, a shape model associated with a target semantic tagis acquired. Where the target semantic tag is identical to a specifiedsemantic tag associated with a slider.

In operation S620, a skeleton and skinning information of a referencevirtual character is acquired.

In operation S630, the shape model is fitted based on the skeleton andskinning information to obtain a skeleton linkage coefficient.

In operation S640, a slider associated with the target semantic tag isgenerated based on the skeleton linkage coefficient.

-   -   wherein the slider is used to drive the reference virtual        character to obtain a target virtual character complying with a        target semantic feature contained in the target semantic tag.

Exemplarily, taking the face shape as an example, the “wide face model”(associated with the wide face tag) and the reference virtual characterthat has completed the binding of skeleton and skinned mesh are inputtedinto a skeleton coefficient fitting solver, and the “wide face skeletonlinkage coefficient” (ie “wide face slider information”) may beoutputted; the “narrow face model” (associated with the narrow face tag)and the reference virtual character that has completed the binding ofskeleton and skinned mesh are inputted into the skeleton coefficientfitting solver, and the “narrow face skeleton linkage coefficient” (ie“narrow face slider information”) may be outputted; the “long facemodel” (associated with the long face tag) and the reference virtualcharacter that has completed the binding of skeleton and skinned meshare inputted into the skeleton coefficient fitting solver, the “longface skeleton linkage coefficient” (ie “long face slider information”)may be outputted; the “short face model” (associated with the short facetag) and the reference virtual character that has completed the bindingof skeleton and skinned mesh are inputted into the skeleton coefficientfitting solver, the “short face skeleton linkage coefficient” (ie,“short face slider information”) may be outputted. Wherein the skeletoncoefficient fitting solver is used to fit each shape model based on theskeleton and skinning information of the reference virtual character, soas to obtain the respective skeleton linkage coefficient. Afterobtaining the respective skeleton linkage coefficient, associate it withthe respective semantic tag, and the slider of respective semantic maybe obtained. For example, the “wide face slider information” isassociated with the “wide face tag”, the “wide face slider” may beobtained.

It should be noted that in another embodiment of the present disclosure,the skeleton and skinning information of the reference virtual characterand a plurality of shape models (each shape model corresponds to adifferent semantic tag) may also be transmitted into the skeletoncoefficient fitting solver, so as to automatically acquire a pluralityof sliders respective to each semantic tag, and the efficient productionof sliders is ensured.

Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 6B, taking the face shape as an example,the “wide face model”, “narrow face model”, “long face model” and “shortface model” and a reference virtual character in which binding ofskeleton and skinned mesh is achieved are inputted into a skeletoncoefficient fitting solver, thereby automatically outputting “wide faceslider”, “narrow face slider”, “long face slider” and “short faceslider”.

It should be understood that the semantic slider design is implementedby linkage of a plurality of skeleton nodes under the design ofdesigner. Specifically, the skeleton generally may transform in threefreedoms, i.e. translation, rotation, and scale. The designer will setweight for the skinned mesh node affected by the skeleton. In actualdeformation, the skinned mesh node performs weighted deformationaccording to the skeleton transformation data and the respective weightset.

However, a slider may usually affect a plurality of skeleton nodes. Thedesigner designs the influence relationship of the slider on theplurality of skeleton nodes, so that the slider has respectivesemantics, such as “low cheekbones” slider, “pointed chin” slider, etc.,but achieving the semantic features relies on the linkage of theplurality of skeleton nodes to achieve.

With the embodiments of the present disclosure, the designer may justfocus on the design of the shape model associated with the semantic tag,and then the shape model may be fitted by the skeleton coefficientfitting solver to implement the slider design. That is, the embodimentsof the present disclosure integrate the skeleton coefficient fittingability and redefine the generation method and production process of theslider, which comprehensively reduces the burden of the designer on theslider design. The designer gets rid of the cumbersome multi-skeletonlinkage design and may focus more on the design of the semanticallyrespective shape model. Therefore, the designer may be liberated fromthe complex multi-skeleton node linkage design, thereby improving theproduction efficiency of digital assets.

As an optional embodiment, the reference virtual character may becreated through the following operations.

A respective skeleton tree is created for the reference virtualcharacter,

A skeleton is associated with a skinned mesh based on the skeleton treeto obtain the reference virtual character.

Exemplarily, taking the face model as an example, the designer maydesign a skeleton tree for face model, and the face skinned mesh(skinned mesh) is associated with each skeleton node of the skeletontree to implement the binding of face skinned mesh and each skeletonnode, in order to obtain the respective reference virtual character.

As an optional embodiment, fitting the shape model based on the skeletonand skinning information to obtain the respective skeleton linkagecoefficient may include the following operations.

Based on the skeleton and skinning information, the shape model isiteratively solved from a root skeleton node to a leaf skeleton node ofthe skeleton tree one by one to obtain the skeleton linkage coefficient.

Wherein the skeleton tree is created for the reference virtualcharacter.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the skeletonlinkage coefficient may be obtained through a bottom-up iterativealgorithm, so the fitting calculation efficiency is higher.

As an optional embodiment, the iterative solution of the shape modelfrom the root skeleton node to the leaf skeleton node of the skeletontree one by one may include: fitting for a rotation coefficient, atranslation coefficient and a scaling coefficient of each skeleton nodeby applying the least square method from the root skeleton node of theskeleton tree level-by-level, until the rotation coefficients, thetranslation coefficients and the scaling coefficients of all the leafskeleton nodes of the skeleton tree are solved.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present disclosure,the skeleton coefficient fitting solver may adopt a bottom-up solvingstrategy. That is, the least square method is applied from the root nodeof the skeleton tree level-by-level to fit for the rotation coefficient,the translation coefficient and the scaling coefficient of each skeletonnode of the shape model respectively, until all the leaf nodes of theskeleton tree are solved.

As an optional embodiment, fitting the shape model based on the skeletonand skinning information to obtain the respective skeleton linkagecoefficient may include: based on the skeleton and skinning information,the shape model is iteratively solved from a root skeleton node to aleaf skeleton node of the skeleton tree one by one in a plurality ofrounds to obtain the skeleton linkage coefficient. Wherein the skeletontree is created for the reference virtual character.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the skeletonlinkage coefficient may be obtained by performing a bottom-up iterativealgorithm in a plurality of rounds, that is, the fitting coefficients ofthe skeleton tree node(s) at each level are solved level-by-level, so asto obtain a more accurate fitting result.

In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure may also supportother types of skeleton coefficient fitting calculation algorithms, andthe embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited herein.

The embodiments of the present disclosure implement the intelligentgeneration of the virtual character slider through the integration ofrelated algorithms and the semantic definition of the input and outputof the slider intelligent generation system.

As an optional embodiment, fitting the shape model based on the skeletonand skinning information to obtain the respective skeleton linkagecoefficient may include: the skeleton and skinning information and theshape model are inputted into the preset skeleton coefficient fittingsolver, so that the shape model is fitted by the skeleton coefficientfitting solver, so as to obtain the skeleton linkage coefficient.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the designer mayjust focus on the design of the shape model associated with the semantictag, and then the shape model may be fitted by the skeletal coefficientfitting solver to implement the slider design.

As an optional embodiment, the method may further include: the skeletonand skinning information and the generated slider are stored in the samefile.

Exemplarily, after the “wide face slider” is obtained, if the “wide faceslider” and the “reference virtual character” are stored in the samefile, the “wide face slider” may automatically drive the “referencevirtual character” to generate a “wide face virtual character” after the“wide face virtual character” startup process is triggered.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the virtualcharacter slider and the reference virtual character are stored in thesame file, and when the virtual character is started, the referencevirtual character may be directly driven by the slider to quickly outputa target virtual character described by the user.

As an optional embodiment, generating the target virtual character basedon semantic feature may include the following operations.

At least one semantic tag is determined cased on the semantic feature.

The respective at least one accessory model and/or at least onedecoration model is determined based on the semantic tag.

On the basis of the virtual character obtained by deforming thereference virtual character, at least one accessory model and/or atleast one decoration model is added, to obtain the target virtualcharacter.

Exemplarily, if the user wants to create a target virtual character with“high nose, big eyes, thin chin, long hair, student clothes, whitesneakers”, the following semantic features “high nose, big eyes, thinchin” may be extracted first based on the semantic description. Thenthree sliders are acquired: “high nose slider”, “big eye slider” and“slim chin slider”, and the 3 sliders are used to deform the pre-createdreference virtual character, so as to obtain a virtual character thatmeets the features of “high nose, big eyes and thin chin”. At the sametime, the following semantic features “long hair, student clothes, whitesneakers” may also be extracted based on the semantic description,accessory models such as “long hair model” are acquired from the digitalasset library of hairstyle accessory, and decoration models such as“girl student clothing model” and “white sneaker model” are acquiredfrom the clothing digital asset library including clothing, shoes, hats,etc. Finally, the “long hair model”, “girl school wear model” and “whitesneakers model” are added to the previously created virtual characterwith the features of “high nose, big eyes and thin chin”, and thefinally output virtual character is the target virtual character thatthe user wants.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the digital asset library of hairstyles and beardaccessories may include various types of men's beard models, varioustypes of men's hairstyle models, and various types of women's hairstylemodels. It should also be understood that the clothing digital assetlibrary may contain various male and female glasses, clothes, shoes,watches, gloves, headwear, scarves and other accessory models. Eachmodel in the digital asset library is associated with a unique semantictag, so that the respective model may be automatically acquired based onthe semantic tag.

Exemplarily, a different semantic tag may be defined for each model inthe digital asset library, such as white sneaker, high heels, little redskirt, student wear, professional formal wear and so on. According tothe semantic tags such as hairstyle and clothing output by the semanticconverter, the respective model may be selected from the digital assetlibrary and added to the generated virtual character.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the customization process of a customized virtualcharacter may be as follows: user enters a voice description; a speechrecognition is automatically performed through ASR technology; a keywordof the voice description is extracted; the extracted keyword isconverted through a semantic converter; a slider semantic tag associatedwith a slider is acquired from the converted keyword; a slider thatdrives the skeleton deformation is acquired based on the slider semantictag; a respective skeleton deformation coefficient is acquired based onthe slider; a linkage deformation of skinned mesh is driven based on theskeleton deformation coefficient; a model semantic tag associated withhairstyle, clothing, etc. is acquired from the converted keyword; arespective model is acquired from a digital asset library based on themodel semantic tag; the acquired model is added to a virtual charactergenerated by the linkage deformation of the skinned mesh to obtain afinal target virtual character.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the targetvirtual character may be beautified and enriched through accessory, soas to obtain a target virtual character satisfying the user.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the presentdisclosure also provides an apparatus for processing a slider for avirtual character.

FIG. 8 exemplarily illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus forprocessing a slider for a virtual character according to the embodimentsof the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 8 , the apparatus 800 for processing a slider for avirtual character includes: a first acquiring module 810, a secondacquiring module 820, a fitting module 830 and a generating module 840.

The first acquiring module 810 is configured to acquire a shape modelassociated with a target semantic tag.

The second acquiring module 820 is configured to acquire a skeleton andskinning information of a reference virtual character.

The fitting module 830 is configured to fit the shape model based on theskeleton and skinning information to obtain a respective skeletonlinkage coefficient.

The generating module 840 is configured to generate a slider associatedwith the target semantic tag based on the skeleton linkage coefficient.Wherein the slider is used to drive the reference virtual character toobtain a target virtual character complying with a target semanticfeature contained in the target semantic tag.

As an optional embodiment, the apparatus further includes: a creatingmodule configured to create the reference virtual character. Thecreating module includes: a creating unit configured to create arespective skeleton tree for the reference virtual character; and anassociating unit configured to associate a skeleton with a skinned meshbased on the skeleton tree to obtain the reference virtual character.

As an optional embodiment, the fitting module is also configured to:based on the skeleton and skinning information, the shape model isiteratively solved from a root skeleton node to a leaf skeleton node ofthe skeleton tree one by one to obtain the skeleton linkage coefficient;wherein the skeleton tree is created for the reference virtualcharacter.

As an optional embodiment, the fitting module is also configured to: theleast square method is applied to fit for a rotation coefficient, atranslation coefficient and a scaling coefficient of each skeleton nodeby applying a least square method from the root skeleton node of theskeleton tree level-by-level, until the rotation coefficients, thetranslation coefficients and the scaling coefficients of all the leafskeleton nodes of the skeleton tree are solved.

As an optional embodiment, the fitting module is also configured to:based on the skeleton and skinning information, the shape model isiteratively solved from a root skeleton node to a leaf skeleton node ofthe skeleton tree one by one in a plurality of rounds to obtain theskeleton linkage coefficient. Wherein the skeleton tree is created forthe reference virtual character.

As an optional embodiment, the fitting module is also configured to: theskeleton and skinning information and the shape model are inputted intoa preset skeleton coefficient fitting solver, so that the shape model isfitted by the skeleton coefficient fitting solver, so as to obtain theskeleton linkage coefficient.

As an optional embodiment, the apparatus further includes: a storagemodule configured to store the skeleton and skinning information and thegenerated slider in the same file.

It should be understood that the embodiments of the apparatus of thepresent disclosure are the same as or similar to the embodiments of themethod of the present disclosure, and have a technical effect being thesame as or similar to that of the embodiments of the method of thepresent disclosure, which will not be repeated here.

Collecting, storing, using, processing, transmitting, providing, anddisclosing etc. of the personal information of the user involved in thepresent disclosure all comply with the relevant laws and regulations,and do not violate the public order and morals.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the presentdisclosure also provides an electronic device, a readable storage mediumand a computer program product.

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an example electronicdevice 900 that may be used to implement embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The electronic device is intended to represent various formsof digital computers, such as laptop computers, desktop computers,workstations, personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers,mainframe computers and other suitable computers. The electronic devicemay also represent various forms of mobile devices, such as personaldigital processing, cellular phones, smart phones, wearable devices andother similar computing devices. The components shown herein, theirconnections and relationships, and their functions are merely examples,and are not intended to limit the implementation of the presentdisclosure described and/or required herein.

As shown in FIG. 9 , the device 900 includes a computing unit 901, whichmay execute various appropriate actions and processing according to acomputer program stored in a read only memory (ROM) 902 or a computerprogram loaded from a storage unit 908 into a random access memory (RAM)903. Various programs and data required for the operation of the device900 may also be stored in the RAM 903. The computing unit 901, the ROM902 and the RAM 903 are connected to each other through a bus 904. Aninput/output (I/O) interface 905 is also connected to the bus 904.

The I/O interface 905 is connected to a plurality of components of thedevice 900, including: an input unit 906, such as a keyboard, a mouse,etc.; an output unit 907, such as various types of displays, speakers,etc.; a storage unit 908, such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk,etc.; and a communication unit 909, such as a network card, a modem, awireless communication transceiver, etc. The communication unit 909allows the device 900 to exchange information/data with other devicesthrough the computer network such as the Internet and/or varioustelecommunication networks.

The computing unit 901 may be various general-purpose and/orspecial-purpose processing components with processing and computingcapabilities. Some examples of computing unit 901 include, but are notlimited to, central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit(GPU), various dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips,various computing units that run machine learning model algorithms,digital signal processing DSP and any appropriate processor, controller,microcontroller, etc. The computing unit 901 executes the variousmethods and processes described above, such as the method for processinga slider for a virtual character. For example, in some embodiments, themethod for processing a slider for a virtual character may beimplemented as computer software programs, which are tangibly containedin the machine-readable medium, such as the storage unit 908. In someembodiments, part or all of the computer program may be loaded and/orinstalled on the device 900 via the ROM 902 and/or the communicationunit 909. When the computer program is loaded into the RAM 903 andexecuted by the computing unit 901, one or more steps of the method forprocessing a slider for a virtual character described above may beexecuted. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the computing unit 901may be configured to execute the method for processing a slider for avirtual character in any other suitable manner (for example, by means offirmware).

Various implementations of the systems and technologies described in thepresent disclosure may be implemented in digital electronic circuitsystems, integrated circuit systems, field programmable gate arrays(FPGA), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC),application-specific standard products (ASSP), system-on-chip SOC, loadprogrammable logic device (CPLD), computer hardware, firmware, softwareand/or their combination. The various implementations may include: beingimplemented in one or more computer programs, the one or more computerprograms may be executed and/or interpreted on a programmable systemincluding at least one programmable processor, the programmableprocessor may be a dedicated or general programmable processor. Theprogrammable processor may receive data and instructions from a storagesystem, at least one input device and at least one output device, andthe programmable processor transmit data and instructions to the storagesystem, the at least one input device and the at least one outputdevice.

The program code used to implement the method of the present disclosuremay be written in any combination of one or more programming languages.The program codes may be provided to the processors or controllers ofgeneral-purpose computers, special-purpose computers or otherprogrammable data processing devices, so that the program code enablesthe functions/operations specific in the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams to be implemented when the program code executed by a processoror controller. The program code may be executed entirely on the machine,partly executed on the machine, partly executed on the machine andpartly executed on the remote machine as an independent softwarepackage, or entirely executed on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the machine-readable mediummay be a tangible medium, which may contain or store a program for useby the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device or incombination with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or amachine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium mayinclude, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or device,or any suitable combination of the above-mentioned content. Morespecific examples of the machine-readable storage media would includeelectrical connections based on one or more wires, portable computerdisks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), opticalfiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storagedevice, magnetic storage device or any suitable combination of theabove-mentioned content.

In order to provide interaction with users, the systems and techniquesdescribed here may be implemented on a computer, the computer includes:a display device (for example, a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user; and akeyboard and a pointing device (for example, a mouse or trackball). Theuser may provide input to the computer through the keyboard and thepointing device. Other types of devices may also be used to provideinteraction with users. For example, the feedback provided to the usermay be any form of sensory feedback (for example, visual feedback,auditory feedback or tactile feedback); and any form (including soundinput, voice input, or tactile input) may be used to receive input fromthe user.

The systems and technologies described herein may be implemented in acomputing system including back-end components (for example, as a dataserver), or a computing system including middleware components (forexample, an application server), or a computing system includingfront-end components (for example, a user computer with a graphical userinterface or a web browser through which the user may interact with theimplementation of the system and technology described herein), or in acomputing system including any combination of such back-end components,middleware components or front-end components. The components of thesystem may be connected to each other through any form or medium ofdigital data communication (for example, a communication network).Examples of communication networks include: local area network (LAN),wide area network (WAN) and the Internet.

The computer system may include a client and a server. The client andthe server are generally far away from each other and usually interactthrough the communication network. The relationship between the clientand the server is generated by computer programs that run on therespective computers and have a client-server relationship with eachother. The server may be a cloud server, a server of a distributedsystem, or a server combined with a blockchain.

It should be understood that the various forms of processes shown abovemay be used to reorder, add or delete steps. For example, the stepsdescribed in the present disclosure may be executed in parallel,sequentially or in a different order, as long as the desired result ofthe technical solution disclosed in the present disclosure may beachieved, which is not limited herein.

The above-mentioned implementations do not constitute a limitation onthe protection scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the artshould understand that various modifications, combinations,sub-combinations and substitutions may be made according to designrequirements and other factors. Any modification, equivalent replacementand improvement made within the spirit and principle of the presentdisclosure shall be included in the protection scope of the presentdisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing a slider for a virtualcharacter, comprising: acquiring a shape model associated with a targetsemantic tag; acquiring a skeleton and skinning information of areference virtual character; fitting the shape model based on theskeleton and skinning information to obtain a skeleton linkagecoefficient; and generating a slider associated with the target semantictag based on the skeleton linkage coefficient, wherein the slider isused to drive the reference virtual character to obtain a target virtualcharacter complying with a target semantic feature contained in thetarget semantic tag, wherein fitting the shape model based on theskeleton and skinning information to obtain a skeleton linkagecoefficient comprises: iteratively solving the shape model from a rootskeleton node to a leaf skeleton node of a skeleton tree one by onebased on the skeleton and skinning information to obtain the skeletonlinkage coefficient, wherein the skeleton tree is created for thereference virtual character, and wherein iteratively solving the shapemodel from a root skeleton node to a leaf skeleton node of a skeletontree one by one comprises: fitting for a rotation coefficient, atranslation coefficient, and a scale coefficient of each skeleton nodeby applying a least square method from the root skeleton node of theskeleton tree level-by-level, until the rotation coefficients, thetranslation coefficients and the scaling coefficients of all the leafskeleton nodes of the skeleton tree are solved.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the reference virtual character is created by: creating askeleton tree for the reference virtual character; and associating askeleton with a skinned mesh based on the skeleton tree to obtain thereference virtual character.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein fittingthe shape model based on the skeleton and skinning information to obtaina skeleton linkage coefficient comprises: iteratively solving the shapemodel from a root skeleton node to a leaf skeleton node of the skeletontree one by one in a plurality of rounds based on the skeleton andskinning information to obtain the skeleton linkage coefficient.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein fitting the shape model based on the skeletonand skinning information to obtain a skeleton linkage coefficientcomprises: iteratively solving the shape model from a root skeleton nodeto a leaf skeleton node of a skeleton tree one by one in a plurality ofrounds based on the skeleton and skinning information to obtain theskeleton linkage coefficient; wherein the skeleton tree is created forthe reference virtual character.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinfitting the shape model based on the skeleton and skinning informationto obtain a skeleton linkage coefficient comprises: inputting theskeleton and skinning information and the shape model to a presetskeleton coefficient fitting solver, so that the shape model is fittedby the skeleton coefficient fitting solver, so as to obtain the skeletonlinkage coefficient.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:storing the skeleton and skinning information and the generated sliderin the same file.
 7. An electronic device, comprising: at least oneprocessor; and a memory communicatively connected with the at least oneprocessor; wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the atleast one processor, and the instructions is executed by the at leastone processor to cause the at least one processor to perform the methodof claim
 1. 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to: create a skeleton tree for thereference virtual character; and associate a skeleton with a skinnedmesh based on the skeleton tree to obtain the reference virtualcharacter.
 9. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: iteratively solve the shape modelfrom a root skeleton node to a leaf skeleton node of a skeleton tree oneby one in a plurality of rounds based on the skeleton and skinninginformation to obtain the skeleton linkage coefficient; wherein theskeleton tree is created for the reference virtual character.
 10. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computerinstructions, wherein the computer instructions are configured to causethe computer to perform the method of claim
 1. 11. The method of claim10, wherein the computer instructions are further configured to causethe computer to: create a skeleton tree for the reference virtualcharacter; and associate a skeleton with a skinned mesh based on theskeleton tree to obtain the reference virtual character.
 12. The methodof claim 10, wherein the computer instructions are further configured tocause the computer to: iteratively solve the shape model from a rootskeleton node to a leaf skeleton node of a skeleton tree one by one in aplurality of rounds based on the skeleton and skinning information toobtain the skeleton linkage coefficient; wherein the skeleton tree iscreated for the reference virtual character.